The Barack and Michelle Obama produced documentary “Crip Camp” was the big winner of the 36th IDA Documentary Awards, which also ended up winning the ABC News VideoSource Award. The Netflix documentary is about a group of disabled teens in the 1970s attending a New York summer camp who eventually turn themselves into activists for the disability rights movement. The Amazon Studios documentary “Time,” which has been winning a few critics awards this season, won Best Director for Garrett Bradley, who also won the honorary Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award. Another critics award-winning documentary, Netflix’s “Dick Johnson is Dead,” won Best Editing and Best Writing while Netflix’s “My Octopus Teacher” won Best Musical Score and the Pare Lorentz Award. Last year’s Best Feature was “For Sama,” which ended up going on to be nominated at the Academy Awards.
Best Feature
“Crip Camp”
Directors/Producers: Nicole Newnham & Jim LeBrecht
Producer: Sara Bolder
USA|Netflix
NOMINEES
- “Collective”
- “Crip Camp”
- “Gunda”
- “MLK/FBI”
- “The Reason I Jump”
- “Reunited”
- “Softie”
- “Time”
- “The Truffle Hunters”
- “Welcome to Chechnya”
Best Short
“John Was Trying to Contact Aliens”
Matthew Killip
USA|Netflix
NOMINEES
- “Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa”
- “All That Perishes at the Edge of Land”
- “Huntsville Station”
- “Hysterical Girl”
- “John Was Trying to Contact Aliens”
- “The Lost Astronaut”
- “Mizuko”
- “sống ở đây”
- “To Calm the Pig Inside”
- “Unforgivable”
Best Director
Garrett Bradley
“Time”
USA|Amazon Studios
NOMINEES
- Garrett Bradley — “Time”
- Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw — “The Truffle Hunters”
- Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht — “Crip Camp”
- Jerry Rothwell — “The Reason I Jump”
- Sam Pollard — “MLK/FBI”
Best Curated Series
“American Experience”
Executive Producers: Susan Bellows and Mark Samels
USA|PBS
NOMINEES
- “30 for 30”
- “American Experience”
- “American Masters”
- “Reel Midwest”
- “Reel South”
Best Episodic Series
“Last Chance U”
Director and Executive Producer: Greg Whiteley
Executive Producers: Joe LaBracio, James D. Stern, Lucas Smith, Andrew Fried, Dane Lillegard
USA|Netflix
NOMINEES
- “Cheer”
- “Hip Hop: The Songs That Shook America”
- “Last Chance U”
- “Seven Planets, One World”
- “We’re Here”
Best Multi-Part Documentary
“Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered“
Directors and Executive Producers: Sam Pollard, Maro Chermayeff, Joshua Bennett, Jeff Dupre
Executive Producers: John Legend, Mike Jackson, Ty Stiklorious, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller
USA|HBO
NOMINEES
- “Asian Americans”
- “Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered”
- “City So Real”
- “Hillary”
- “Lenox Hill”
Best Short Form Series
“POV Shorts“
Producer: Opal H. Bennett
Executive Producers: Justine Nagan and Chris White
USA/PBS
NOMINEES
- “Almost Famous”
- “Guardian Documentaries”
- “Last Call For The Bayou: 5 Stories from Louisiana’s Disappearing Delta”
- “POV Shorts”
- “Run This City”
Best Audio Documentary
“Somebody”
Reporters and Producers: Alison Flowers, Bill Healy and Sarah Geis
Host: Shapearl Wells
Reporters: Sam Stecklow, Annie Nguyen, Kahari Blackburn, Rajiv Sinclair, Henri Adams, Matilda Vojak, Dana Brozost-Kelleher, Frances McDonald, Diana Akmajian, Andrew Fan and Maddie Anderson
Associate Producer: Ellen Glover
Executive Producers: Jamie Kalven, Maria Zuckerman, Christy Gressman, Leital Molad
USA | Topic Studios, The Intercept, the Invisible Institute, and iHeartRadio, in association with Tenderfoot TV
NOMINEES
- “Crosses in the Desert / Cruces en el desierto”
- “Fiasco: Bush v. Gore”
- “Girl Taken”
- “Heavyweight – The Marshes”
- “Somebody“
Best Music Documentary
“Universe”
Directors: Sam Osborn and Nicholas Capezzera
Producers: Esther Dere and Leah Natasha Thomas
USA
NOMINEES
- “Beastie Boys Story”
- “Billie”
- “Crock of Gold”
- “Los Hermanos / The Brothers”
- “Universe”
David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award
(This award recognizes exceptional achievement in non-fiction film and video production at the university level and brings greater public and industry awareness to the work of students in the documentary field.)
“People Like Me“
Marrok Sedgwick
USA | University of California Santa Cruz
NOMINEES
- “Bananas”
- “Isle of Us”
- “Na Luta Delas”
- “People Like Me”
- “Susana”
- “Trees”
Best Cinematography
“The Earth is Blue as an Orange“
Viacheslav Tsvietkov
Ukraine, Lithuania
NOMINEES
- “Acasă, My Home”
- “Boys State”
- “The Earth is Blue as an Orange”
- “The Truffle Hunters”
- “Time”
Best Editing
“Dick Johnson is Dead“
Nels Bangerter
USA|Netflix
NOMINEES
- “Boys State”
- “Crip Camp”
- “Disclosure”
- “Dick Johnson is Dead”
- “Through the Night”
Best Music Score
“My Octopus Teacher“
Kevin Smuts
USA, United Kingdom|Netflix
NOMINEES
- “Dancing with the Birds”
- “David Attenborough: Life On Our Planet”
- “Hope Frozen: A Quest to Live Twice”
- “My Octopus Teacher”
- “Rising Phoenix”
Best Writing
“Dick Johnson is Dead“
Nels Bangerter and Kirsten Johnson
USA|Netflix
NOMINEES
- “Crip Camp”
- “Dick Johnson is Dead”
- “I Am Not Alone”
- “My Octopus Teacher”
- “Socks on Fire”
ABC News VideoSource Award
(The ABC News VideoSource Award IS GIVEN EACH YEAR FOR THE BEST USE OF NEWS FOOTAGE AS AN INTEGRAL COMPONENT IN A DOCUMENTARY.)
“Crip Camp”
Directors/Producers: Jim LeBrecht, Nicole Newnham
Producer: Sara Bolder
USA|Netflix
NOMINEES
- “#Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump”
- “Bully. Coward. Victim.: The Story of Roy Cohn”
- “Crip Camp”
- “Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America’s Elections”
- “MLK/FBI”
- “The First Rainbow Coalition”
Pare Lorentz Award
(The Pare Lorentz Award recognizes films that demonstrate exemplary filmmaking while focusing on the appropriate use of the natural environment, justice for all and the illumination of pressing social problems.)
“My Octopus Teacher”
Director: Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed
Producer: Craig Foster
USA|Netflix
HONORABLE MENTION
“Crip Camp”
Directors/Producers: Jim LeBrecht, Nicole Newnham
Producer: Sara Bolder
USA / Netflix
Honorary Awards Recipients
AMICUS Award
Regina K. Scully
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT Award
Sam Pollard
“MLK/FBI”
COURAGE UNDER FIRE Award
“Welcome to Chechnya“
David France, David Isteev, and Olga Baranova
Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award
Garrett Bradley
“Time”
USA|Amazon Studios
PIONEER Award
Firelight Media
TRUTH TO POWER Award
“A Thousand Cuts”
Maria Ressa and Rappler
QUICK LIST
Best Feature: “Crip Camp”
Best Short: “John Was Trying to Contact Aliens”
Best Director: Garrett Bradley — “Time”
Best Curated Series: “American Experience”
Best Episodic Series: “Last Chance U”
Best Multi-Part Documentary: “Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered“
Best Short Form Series: “POV Shorts“
Best Audio Documentary: “Somebody”
Best Music Documentary: “Universe”
Student Documentary Award: “People Like Me“
Best Cinematography: “The Earth is Blue as an Orange“ — Viacheslav Tsvietkov
Best Editing: “Dick Johnson is Dead“ — Nels Bangerter
Best Music Score: “My Octopus Teacher“ — Kevin Smuts
Best Writing: “Dick Johnson is Dead” — Nels Bangerter and Kirsten Johnson
ABC News Videosource Award: “Crip Camp”
Pare Lorentz Award: “My Octopus Teacher”
Amicus Award: Regina K. Scully
Career Achievement Award: Sam Pollard — “MLK/FBI”
Courage Under Fire Award: David France, David Isteev, and Olga Baranova — “Welcome to Chechnya”
Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award: Garrett Bradley — “Time”
Pioneer Award: Firelight Media
Truth to Power Award: Maria Ressa and Rappler — “A Thousand Cuts”
INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY ASSOCIATION
For over 35 years, IDA has supported nonfiction filmmaking and filmmakers through our major program areas.
